Simulation of light environments inside lunar holes and their associated subsurface caverns

Abstract Vertical holes of several tens of meters in diameter and depth have been discovered on the Moon, potentially serving as skylights into subsurface volcanic caverns resembling lava tubes. Because of their scientific importance and potential for use as future lunar bases, these lunar holes and caverns are expected to be targets of intensive exploration in the near future. Using numerical simulations, this study investigates the light environment within a directly and/or indirectly sunlit subsurface cavern accessed through a skylight hole. We specifically analyze the Mare Tranquillitatis Hole (MTH), one of the largest lunar vertical holes, situated near the Moon's nearside meridian. The floor and walls of the hole, and the walls and ceiling of its associated subsurface cavern are lit by reflected sunlight from other parts of the hole and cavern, such as the floors, depending on the solar elevation angle. Furthermore, this paper presents estimation results for camera imaging for a case in which solar elevation angle is 45° in the morning, which is appropriate timing for exploration. Assuming reflectance of 0.1 for the lunar hole and cavern surfaces, we estimate the incident energy onto each pixel of a camera as it descends to the hole's floor. We specifically simulate conditions for a camera with a 12-bit dynamic range, similar to the wide-angle optical navigation camera (ONC-W) onboard the Hayabusa 2 spacecraft. The results suggest that a camera with a fixed gain would struggle to capture both directly and indirectly sunlit areas simultaneously, without saturating bright areas and ensuring minimum incident energy resolution (say, a 10 digital number) for darker areas. To overcome this challenge, adjusting the camera gain based on the hole's and cavern's illumination conditions is necessary. Graphical abstract